Come to Decorah Public Library at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday June 16 to learn how to build your own kayak. In an illustrated presentation by Jim Eckblad, Emeritus Professor of Biology at Luther College, you will learn how you can take a pile of long thin wood strips and turn them into a functional boat hull. That’s exactly what he did during the summer of 2009.

During his 36 years on the Luther faculty, Jim directed a number of research projects on the ecology of the Mississippi River, involving over 100 Luther students in these studies. He believes it was a natural transition to move from studying what lives in water to building a vessel that moves across the water’s surface. The program will consider kayak design, types of wood kayaks, shop equipment needed to complete the build, making the boat ‘skeleton,’ laying the strips, and finishing the boat.

Jim will also bring several examples of wooden kayak paddles he has made. If you see a big old-guy in a shinny 14-foot wood kayak on the backwaters of the Mississippi near Lansing Iowa, there’s a good chance it’s Jim.